When Mikan Road Was Ours

by D.K. Furutani

Winner of Simon & Schuster’s Books Like Us contest, a gripping, earnest debut novel set across four generations of a Japanese American family, exploring California’s vibrant agricultural heartlands, the sharp edges of inheritance and what it means to truly belong.

Amidst a sweltering Los Angeles heat wave, Murano, a reclusive high school English teacher, is muddling through life. Reeling from his father’s death as well as his own recent cancer diagnosis, he spends his days grading papers and appeasing disgruntled parents while painstakingly counting down the days until summer vacation.

However, the monotony breaks when he inherits his great-uncle Benjiro’s unpublished memoir. He expects the pages to be a grim reminder of his position as the half-white son of the black sheep of the family. Instead, as he reads, Murano is whisked away to 1930s California, to a time when the Murano family was inseparable, relishing life on their bucolic farmland. As Murano is introduced to family members he never knew existed and confronted with the hidden complexities of the past, he is pulled close to the Japanese identity he’s dismissed all of his life.

Ultimately faced with more questions about his fractured family than answers, Murano becomes determined to discover the reasons behind his family’s dissolution following their incarceration in American concentration camps during World War II, no matter what hidden truths he might uncover about his ancestors or himself.

Lovingly crafted with poignancy and profound attention to historical detail, When Mikan Road Was Ours is a rich meditation on belonging that seamlessly blends the intricacies of heritage, the resilience of family bonds, and the struggle to reconcile a past filled with both heartache and hope.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication July 28, 2026

Reviews

[Kristine]

Brand New Book by a New Author. Interested in Reading this. Japanese~White Identity and historical fiction back during WWII and how Japanese American Citizens were put in detainment centers in the US.

Covers several generations of family, which I generally like.

[Liana Gold]

General fiction/Historical fiction & multicultural interest


Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books and the author, D.K. Furutani for the early eARC!

Publication date: July 28, 2026

[Aubrey M · Rating 4 out of 5]

​I feel incredibly fortunate to have read and reviewed this book. As the grandchild of a Nisei, my brother and I are Yonsei, although we were raised very similarly to the experience of a Sansei. Like many Japanese American families, we learned the majority of the details of our grandfather’s life and incarceration after his passing; I believe many of that generation 'folded up and tucked away' the stories of their incarceration. My own family farmed and operated a winery before being relocated to Heart Mountain.

​Furutani masterfully uses fiction to guide the reader through this vital piece of history. The characters are fascinating, and I found myself slowing down to research the historical context behind the plot. This is an exceptional work of historical fiction, and I highly recommend it as a necessary addition to the limited literature available on the Japanese American experience during WWII.

[Laurel]

Thanks to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Nancy Segura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt gentle and heavy at the same time, the kind of story that sneaks up on you emotionally. The writing is simple but meaningful, and the way Furutani explores family, identity, and the tug-of-war between past and present feels very real. I loved how grounded the characters were; nothing felt exaggerated, just honest, human choices shaped by history and hurt.

It’s a quiet book, but it leaves a strong aftertaste…. that bittersweet mix of nostalgia, loss, and the pieces of ourselves we carry forward whether we want to or not. I finished it feeling reflective, like I’d just walked through someone else’s memories and picked up a few truths for myself.

[Richard Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting novel about a man's discovery of his Japanese family history before, during and after WWII. Having previously known little of his family's history, including the period of their internment in camps during the war, he seeks to understand the intricacies of their relationships.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the opportunity to read this advance copy.

[Rem Tolentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Atria for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

When Mikan Road was Ours chronicles a journey of one man’s reconnection and rediscovery of his family’s roots spanning across four generations from the 1930’s to present day. DK Furutani’s debut novel is written beautifully with tenderness and sincerity in its prose and weaves through the bucolic but tragic lives of the Muranos, a Japanese-American family who’s pursuit of the American Dream is cut down by the unfair and bigoted policy of detaining Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II.

Family and the importance of the connections we make with our loved ones are central themes to this novel. Furutani masterfully unpacks and reveals the mystery as the novel progresses of what happened to the Murano men and why at the beginning of the novel - our protagonist (who’s first name is not revealed) has been separated from them. This page-turner kept me on the edge of my seat as a chance encounter with a long lost cousin reveals a memoir that uncovers the hidden memories and events of the lives of the Muranos.

When Mikan Road was Ours is an illustrative example of how immigrants can obtain the American Dream but shows how quickly those dreams can be dashed with oppressive policies rooted in racism and hate- turning a successful self-made man and his family from wealthy and respected land-owning farmers to outcasts overnight.

Although the tragedy of losing the life on the farm with its peaceful koi pond and expansive mandarin groves was a primary focus of the novel; the understated tragedy was the shattering of a once close-knit family, the loss of innocence in children, and the realization that even with many years settled in America, a person can still be considered a foreigner. As a second generation Asian American, my heart was torn and I teared up at how the family was split up and sent to different internment camps. Fururani brings nuance to the difficult decisions that were made by a character prioritizing well-being and career over family while showing how the rest of the family endured over the years as they rebuilt their lives, found love, and had children.

Furutani manages the epic scope of the story and its diverse cast of characters in his novel and each one feels distinct and believable. Our Murano protagonist experiencing his own genealogical revelation and his own modern day racial micro aggressions; the caring and energetic Kaiya - who acts as the glue between the old generation and the new; the academic and aloof engineer, Benjiro, the fun loving Kazuki; the poet Eiko (I love how Furutani gave her prose a distinct style and voice); and the elder brother Tomoya. In Tomoya, Furutani writes perhaps his most complex character, layered with a sense of morality and social justice juxtaposed with having endured some of the deepest and darkest tragedies of the family. Reading about his life stirred up my emotions, and his story was both inspiring and lamentable. His strength was his ability to show great care and compassion but at the same time giving so much to others that he ended up not having anything left emotionally to give to his son Lonnie. Through his eyes and his son’s Lonnie’s we see the erosion of the American dream and the impact of an America that harshly treated and alienated its own citizens. It was a masterful stroke of genius tying this disillusionment to the American dream with the protagonist’s lectures as an English teacher on two books of this archetype - Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Although thoroughly researched this novel doesn’t read like a history book; and the characters are earnest and heartfelt. Through the author’s transformational ability to tell a family story wearing his emotions on his sleeve (one that you may hear at your own dinner table), I felt a connection to these characters as if I was a member of their family.

When Mikan Road Was Ours emphatically advocates for fully embracing your heritage and identity and I wholeheartedly agree - a stellar debut novel by DK Furutani that made me curious of my own family history and racial identity.

[Anandi Sarkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received an Advanced Reader Copy from NetGalley*

The best way to describe When Mikan Road Was Ours is a question mark. It is the question mark that I think all children of Asian immigrants have due to the sparse documentation of our ancestors and the inability to know them. This novel follows an unnamed Murano throughout his journey after his great-uncle dies about the battle he has had with his cancer, his father, his fraught relationships with his family, and the tense underlying battle of identity that plagues everyone who tries to assimilate.

Murano himself is a question mark. As I mentioned before, he is never named in the story. We never really know anything about Murano himself, a choice I think the author made intentionally to allow us to project our own experiences on to him. Throughout the novel, we are given sparse details of him. He is an English teacher. He has no friends. He has a dog. He has cancer, and he lost his father. He is incredibly depressed, and he has a drinking problem. He's kind of passively suicidal as in he wouldn't mind if he got hit by a bus. Over the story, I loved how we got to see him happier more. I also appreciated Kaiya's relationship with him. It reminded me a little bit of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow where Sam kept on showing up for Sadie. She kept on trying. While the dialogue came out stilted slightly in modern-day scenes, especially the scenes with Judy, it's mostly a back and forth anthology of experience in the 30s and 40s, and the current tense.

Murano's relationship with his father was my favorite thing to watch. Inextricably linked to his grandfather, it's so distinctly painful. His description of his father's interactions with him, the heart disease that Lonnie unknowingly inherited from Tomoya, the conversation over the baseball jersey. Oh, I loved the conversation over the baseball jersey. How painful is that? Baseball is reoccurring theme throughout the book and to see that little tiny Lonnie hiding behind grown men in the street playing baseball and eventually being humiliated by his own father for playing it even later in life. When we read Ben's anthology, it hits even harder to know that it was Tom that brought Baseball to the Muranos. We know from the start that Lonnie has kind of failed at life. In the authors words, "he paid loans with loans". But now we know why. What crimes committed against him, what shame he lived with, what a distinct feeling of pity we have for him. It is even more curious that Murano, raised in the same way as Lonnie is with an almost single father, retreats into joking in the face of discomfort the way Lonnie did. I thought the most bittersweet moment we had was when we found out that Tomoya did this too.

Once and for all, it is most of a question mark because Murano never really get's his answers. What changed? What made the distant father Tomoya was to Lonnie from the empathetic boy who took a bullet for the workers of the farm at age 14? What happened? The interview, the one that Sophie taped over, would've answered all of that. But maybe the dead should keep some secrets. It's our job to move forward, to learn from them, and go past.

[Kristi Antley · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Mikan Road Was Ours is a LIVING HISTORY RECORD. Although the character details are fictitious, there is enough solid, factual evidence, historical accounts, and eye witness testimonies cited to bring the main lesson of prejudice to the reader's mind. I felt as if the author was speaking to me, and only me, straight from the pages. I was delighted the entire time that I read it, and honestly could not put it down, but I soon realized that I was referring back to earlier chapters to keep the present characters in the actual story separate from the past characters who were writing, or mentioned within correspondences and conversations within the book, a minor inconvenience that did not lessen my experience.

I could not contain my emotions as the plot constantly rolled, twisted, turned, and then, just when I was getting comfortable, it unexpectedly took a straight nosedive, but ended on a balanced note. It left me wanting more, which is what exceptional literature achieves! It is very rare that a work captures my attention as this one has.

Personally, I had no idea that interment camps existed in America during 1942-1945; this was basically due to unwarranted suspicion after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, enforced by President Hoover's Executive Order 9066. 120,000 Japanese Americans had established families, farms, businesses, and homes that they were forced to sell, lease, liquidate, or forfeit within a very short window of time, resulting in complete loss of assets, dignities, and rights. Some of the prisoners were even registered American Citizens and corporate members of very high stature in their respective communities on the West Coast during the 20th century.

Regardless of the reader's gender, race, age, geographical location, past experiences, financial or professional status, there is something here for everyone, especially historical fiction lovers. This material has not only partially filled in several gaps in my education, but it has opened multiple "rabbit holes" that I delight in exploring.

Here is a challenge: as you read the book, take time to research some of the highlighted events, immigration procedures, key people, American political movements, and documents mentioned by the main character; I promise that your mind will be BLOWN. I am grateful for access to this advance reader copy and have enjoyed providing a factual review; all opinions are my own, and I am eager to see what this author produces next!

[Alesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this debut novel to be full of fascinating information about Japanese Americans living in the agricultural area that became part of the LA sprawl. It is a story very well told, feeling more like a memoir (which part of it purports to be). What emotional scars do generations carry after the WWII internment camps? And what emotional scars do people of any culture or race carry from parents who are themselves damaged by world events?

This is an important contribution to literature about immigrants of all kinds, especially Japanese ones, and how the personality traits and patterns (as well as the sins) of the fathers are visited upon the sons.

I take away half a star from my review because the book could have used some editing for brevity. I found myself skimming some of the rambling descriptions. Also, there were a lot of characters, all related to one another, and I got them confused. Some characters only enter the story at the very end, a rare literary occurrence. There's a family tree at the beginning of the book, but it was not legible on my Kindle. Too bad, because it would have helped me keep track of the people in the story.

Although this book is really a story of the tragedy and injustice of the US internment camps, it's also really a story of the damage war does to practically anybody it touches. Japanese Americans were treated horribly by their own government. So were all of the Japanese in Japan after the US bombing. But then, so were theChinese, Singaporeans, Malaysians, Indonesians (etc. etc. etc.) civilians by the Japanese in WWII. So are the Gazans right now, and the Ukrainians, and Sudanese. It makes me ponder the basic "humanity" of our species.

You could say that this book is also about the resilience of the human spirit, the importance of family, and how knowledge urges us toward forgiveness.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy of this book.

[Ambika]

3.5
I had high hopes for When Mikan Road Was Ours, and while I was genuinely engaged at the beginning, the novel ultimately didn’t land for me as strongly as I’d hoped. The chapters structured as flashbacks frequently pulled me out of the narrative. Because the writing voice remained largely the same across timelines, the shifts lacked clear distinction for me. While I recognize how important and necessary this story is, I found myself struggling to stay fully engaged throughout.
I most enjoyed the sections focused on the protagonist’s present-day struggles, his experience as a teacher and his alienation from his family really resonated for me. However, I didn’t fully believe the emotional connection between him and his cousin, particularly her motivation for reaching out so persistently. That relationship felt underdeveloped, which made it harder to invest in the parallel narrative.

At times, the book felt as though it could be two separate works. And yet, I also believe that its ambition, to weave together intergenerational trauma, war memory, Otherness, and the often overlooked history of Japanese migration to the United States, is very powerful. I did feel traces of that depth, but I missed something that would have made this book into one of my all-time favorites.

I think much of that comes down to execution. The memoir-style chapters didn’t fully captivate me and there were moments where the sequencing felt unclear. It disrupted my reading, often sending me back to double-check if I missed anything. I also wished for more explicit analysis connecting everyday decisions to intergenerational trauma. Overall, despite my criticisms, this remains an intriguing and undeniably important read, one that tackles histories and truths that deserve far more attention.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Walt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estranged family member finds reasons to reconnect at a family funeral.

When Murano (no first name ever used that I recall) gets an invitation from his cousin Kaiya to a family funeral, he doesn’t know quite what to think. His father had been a family outcast, leaving little contact, and it had been 15 years since he and Kaiya had even spoken. None of the family had attended the funeral of Murano’s own father, and his solitary life as an English teacher with a recent cancer diagnosis had left him bitter.

But when Kaiya gives him his inheritance, a baseball mitt and an unpublished memoir written by his great-uncle Benjiro (Kaiya’s grandfather), Murano finds himself getting lost in the family’s challenges including their immigration in the early 20th century and their experiences in the camps Japanese-Americans were forced into during WW2.

I do recommend this book. It does shift back and forth between Murano’s own life and his great-uncle’s memoir. I found myself moved particularly by the experiences the author portrays in the camps, a dark piece of America’s history, and the author’s presentation will leave readers shaking their heads in disbelief. Through it all, Murano is being tossed lifelines by Kaiya, who has also read the memoir, to reconnect with family, and I’ll leave that for other readers to discover.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy of this book.

[Jaclyn Wingfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 ⭐️ What an incredible debut novel! The first thing I drove to this book was the cover, and upon reading the synopsis I was interested in the story. I read a lot of romance and thrillers so I wasn’t sure if I would like this style of novel, but wow. I truly enjoyed reading this so much and it feels like a story that will stay with me. It’s kind of like a book within a book, with chapters changing between perspectives and characters, which was a unique way to tell the story of a family’s history. The author’s writing style was easy to read and I really felt like I was in the mind of the main character.

I laughed to myself when the main character was googling key events that were coming up in his great-uncle’s memoir because that was the exact same thing I was doing while reading this book. It felt very relatable - when you are learning about historical events through the lens of someone’s live experience and wanting to fully understand everything they are referencing.

It was hard to not be drawn into all aspects of this story. I was keen to continue reading to learn more about Benjiro and his family’s life, but also Murano’s as he discovered more about the family he was meeting for the first time.

The emotional weight of the story kinda sneaked up on me. It felt light and unassuming throughout, but I’m left feeling so grateful for what I have read.

Overall, this was a beautifully told story about the importance of learning about your family’s story and being open to all perspectives of it.

This book will be published July 28, 2026 - I know I’ll be picking up a copy, and I hope you do too.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Renu S · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Mikan Road Was Ours follows Murano, a high school English teacher adrift in grief after his father’s sudden death and shaken by his own cancer diagnosis. His days blur together in a haze of grading papers and navigating tense parent conferences—until he inherits his great-uncle Benjiro’s unpublished memoir. What begins as a reluctant obligation transforms into a deeply personal journey as Murano is transported to 1930s California, where his Japanese American family once thrived together on their farm. Through Benjiro’s memories, he encounters relatives he never knew and uncovers the warmth, humor, and quiet strength that defined their lives before everything was upended.

As the memoir traces the family’s incarceration during World War II and the unraveling that followed, Murano is forced to confront the identity he has long kept at arm’s length. The novel beautifully explores belonging, generational trauma, and the courage it takes to reclaim one’s heritage. I truly enjoyed the author’s writing style—lyrical yet grounded, rich in historical detail without ever losing emotional intimacy. The characters felt layered and achingly real, and their struggles lingered with me long after I finished the final page. I would gladly read more by this author and look forward to seeing what they write next.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC of DK Furutani’s debut novel.

This had all of the makings of a book I normally would love. Dual timelines, generational family trauma, historical fiction, family secrets, but ultimately it lacked a bit in execution, for me.

Here we are following our protagonist, Murano, as he uncovers his family history through his uncle’s unpublished memoir. For me, the current time portions of the book felt forced, and it seemed like the author was trying to somehow relate the events occurring in Murano’s life to the family history, and it didn’t quite land. I really enjoyed the flashbacks, and especially loved the prologue at the beginning of the book. It was written so poetically, I thought I was in for a totally different book than I got.

Murano’s relationship with his cousin also felt emotionless, I wasn’t bought into their dynamic throughout.

Ultimately, I wish this book focused solely on the memoir and the families history, instead of the dueling timelines. Furutani shines during these moments. Overall, a solid debut, I would read another from this author in the future.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ I would actually give this 3 1/2 stars, rounded up. Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me to read a pre-release copy. This is type of book I normally enjoy-duel timelines and historical fiction. And I love learning about times, places and people that I knew little about. The story is narrated by a young man who learns about his family through journals and writings from family members he never really knew. The part of the story I found most intriguing was the history of his Japanese and Japanese American relatives during World War II. Their incarceration in concentration camps during that time is a horrific part of our history that I don’t think is talked about or taught enough. However, the present part of the book felt forced. That being said, the fact that the author wrote this after learning much about family, just like the narrator did, makes this much more appealing. The characters felt well rounded, and I feel like I got to know them in the end. Except for Murano and Kaiya - that to me was the weakest part of the book.

[Catie Monks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Atria Books and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review D.K. Furutani’s novel When Mikan Road Was Ours. This story uses the layering of generations’ stories of Japanese Americans. It illustrates the complicated history of immigrant and American-born Japanese people in the United States The narrator lives in the present and is dealing with his own issues of work and life and learns about his own mysterious and recently deceased father through the writings of relatives that he didn’t know about. The revelations are revealed through writings, photographs and recordings and help the narrator learn about himself and his place in his own life. All readers of this story can find similar feelings of wanting to discover more about our heritage and the complicated characters in it.

[Mallory Goldsmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise right from the start. I loved that the first female character introduced was the male MC’s cousin, so you immediately knew it wouldn’t turn into a love story—it was refreshing to have a historical novel that didn’t rely on romance. The book also didn’t go in the direction I expected at all; I was convinced the second half would have a totally different setting, so the actual direction surprised me. Overall, it was a refreshing read and very different from anything else I’ve picked up.

[Teara Reene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way this book was written. The duel chapters between The memoir and the present day contrasted beautifully. I loved the way you learned the Murano history. The way not knowing your personal history changes the way you deal with the present and future. I highly recommend this book for people of all walks of life!

I was granted an advanced copy of this book from Simon & Schuster through NetGalley

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

(First off, what a gorgeous cover: Mikan is Mandarin Orange in Japanese)

A very sweet novel of a Japanese high school teacher discovering his family's history, after a lifetime of feeling disconnected from his ancestors, through his Great Uncle's memoir. Initially I wasn't feeling the POV switching, but towards the end of the novel, I genuinely felt connected to his Great Aunt and Great-Great grandmother especially. I didn't know much about WWII Japanese Internment camps and I felt the author did a great job incorporating those stories in a realistic way between letters, poems and the memoir itself. I found myself thinking of my own "Greats", mostly to better understand each character's relation to Murano, but I finished the book feeling inspired to know my own family's history and start getting closer to my second cousins.

[Lori Emilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exceptionally well written book. I loved the dual timeline, with the past told through memoir, letters and notes. I enjoyed putting the pieces together, even if some letters were somewhat unnecessary. WWII is an era I find quite fascinating, and this firsthand account, though fictional, of life in a Japanese-American internment camp was so interesting. I also loved the bit about Mr. Milano, the teacher tasked with putting the pieces of family lore together, and his ordeal with a troublesome parent. Well done! I will look forward to reading more from this author. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetHalley for an advanced copy.